The 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment (MPAD) returned to Hawai‘i on January 31, 2013.
From the Adjutant General’s Facebook page: http://fb.me/2igz1D9B5.
Photos by TSgt Andrew Jackson, HIANG.
Hirono taps two retired Air Force officers for her defense and military team
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai‘i, has tapped Walter Kaneakua and Nick Ikeda, former aides to Senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, to staff her defense and military legislative team.
Kaneakua, a retired Air Force colonel and Honolulu-based liaison to the military under the late Sen. Inouye, will be Hirono’s military liaison. He served 27 years of active duty with both the Air Force and the Hawai‘i Air National Guard.
Ikeda, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who served as the military legislative assistant to Akaka and is a Defense Department specialist, will be Hirono’ s military legislative assistant.
“I am thrilled to have such experienced aides working with me to promote Hawaii’s vital role in our national security,” Hirono, who was appointed to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Hawaii is the strategic center for our military in the Pacific, and this team will allow me to be the strongest advocate possible for Hawaii’s military and defense interests.”
Taken from Pacific Business News, January 29, 2013
MSG Maria “Vicky” Durham of the Human Resource Office (HRO) requested the following information about Electronic Retiree Account Statements (eRAS) be posted on the Retiree News website.
Your monthly electronic Retiree Account Statement (eRAS) is now available on myPay. Click the link below to log in and access your eRAS.
While you are logged in to your account, please also take a few moments to verify that all of your contact information is correct. The key to receiving your military retired pay and other important information in a timely and efficient manner is to make sure that both your mailing address and email address on file are up to date.
NEED HELP PICKING UP YOUR ELECTRONIC ACCOUNT STATEMENT?
If the Web address above is highlighted, click on it to open a browser window. After you log in to myPay, you will be taken to a menu from which you can reach your eRAS.
If the Web address above is not highlighted, follow these steps:
– Open a Web browser window.
– Copy and paste the entire Web address into the location or address bar of the browser.
– Press enter.
TROUBLE LOGGING IN TO MYPAY?
Visit www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary for instructions on starting a myPay account, requesting a login ID or requesting a temporary password.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD.
The eRAS is only available on myPay. Please share this news with your fellow military retirees who may not have myPay accounts.
If you would like to contact us, visit AskDFAS https://corpweb1.dfas.mil/askDFAS/askRA.jsp. There you will find a list of Frequently Asked Questions organized by category as well as an option to submit a personalized question.
Retired and Annuitant Pay http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary.html
Read the January issue of National Guard, the official publication of the National Guard Association of the United States at http://www.nationalguardmagazine.com/publication/?m=12619&l=1
Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said 99 percent of Air Force positions are already open to women and the service will now pursue opening the final 1 percent to them following the Pentagon leadership’s action on Thursday to expand the roles for women in combat. “2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the Department of Defense allowing women to serve as combat pilots,” said Welsh in a January 24 release.
“By rescinding the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule, we can pursue integrating women into the seven remaining Air Force career fields still closed, all associated with special operations,” he added. Those seven Air Force Specialty Codes are: 13DXA Combat Control Officer, 13DXB Combat Rescue/Special Tactics Officer, 15WXC Special Operations Weather Officer, 1C2XX Enlisted Combat Controller, 1C4XX Enlisted Tactical Air Command and Control, 1T2XX Enlisted Pararescue, and 1W0X2 Enlisted Special Operations Weather. These career fields comprise approximately 3,235 positions, according to the release.
“The Air Force will partner with US Special Operations Command and the other services to review opening these positions in a deliberate, measured, and responsible way,” states the release. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants the process completed by January 1, 2016.
Ernest Napua Kalehua “Pops” Kai Sr., 79, of Hilo, a Hawai‘i Army National Guard retiree and a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Korean War, passed away in Hilo Medical Center on January 21, 2013. He was born in Hana, Maui.
He is survived by sons Ernest Jr., Robert and Eric Kai, and Scott and Kris Weening; daughters Lissa Morales and Adrienne and Erika Weening; hanai sister Mokihana; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AFRNS) – New co-payments for prescription drugs covered by TRICARE will go into effect soon. The Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act requires TRICARE to increase co-pays on brand name and non-formulary medications that are not filled at military clinics or hospitals.
There is no increase to co-pays for generic medications. Increases will be effective sometime in February, depending on when system changes can be made, and the publication of a required Federal Notice.
TRICARE Pharmacy co-pays vary based on the class of drug and where beneficiaries choose to fill their prescriptions. The co-pay for generic medications stays at $5 when a prescription is filled at a network pharmacy. There is no co-pay when generic prescriptions are filled through TRICARE Home Delivery. The new co-pay for a 30-day supply of a brand name medication purchased at a retail network pharmacy will be $17, up from the current $12. Beneficiaries using TRICARE Home Delivery will pay $13 for brand name drugs, up from $9; however, the Home Delivery price is for a 90-day supply.
The greatest change in co-pays applies to non-formulary medications. The $25 co-pay for these drugs increases to $44 at retail pharmacies and $43 through Home Delivery. The TRICARE Uniform Formulary is a list of all the medications TRICARE covers.
For fiscal 2014 and beyond, the new law directs that co-pays increase annually by the same percentage as retiree cost-of-living adjustments. In years when a COLA increase would total less than a dollar, it will be delayed a year and combined with the next adjustment so increases will always be $1 or more.
Pharmacies at military hospitals and clinics will continue to provide medications with no co-pays. Visit http://www.tricare.mil/Costs/PrescriptionCosts.aspx for more details. (Courtesy of TRICARE Communications)
CSM Coling Jacob “Reuben” Mandaquit, 76, of Kailua-Kona, a houseman at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows and the former Kona Lagoon Hotel, bellman at King Kamehameha Hotel and a veteran of the Army and National Guard, passed away in Kona Community Hospital on January 7, 2013. He was born in Kahalu‘u, Hawai‘i.
He is survived by wife Annie; son Coling Jr.; daughters Ruby Ann Souza and Corina Mandaquit; brothers Arthur, Marcelo and Clyde Mandaquit, Kamuela, James and Jimmy Wong, Bernard Vasquez, Thomas Baldovino, Robert Baladonado, Genaro and Donicio Quison, and Anthony Florendo; sisters Edna Keliikuli, Winifred Arnold, Shirley Schmitz, Margie Strong, Clairmont Keliiaa, Ethel Coleman, Sylvia Cariaga and Phyllis Malasig; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Retiree News began as an electronic newsletter and has evolved to this blog. Definitely more to come….
